I grip the handle of my baseball bat harder, a frown on my face as I glare angrily at the annoying, smirking face of Henry Bowers.

"What do you want?" I ask, placing my hand on my hip as I tapped the wooden bat onto my shoulder. He shrugs, stepping a bit closer with an evil glint in his eyes. "Just wanted to talk, something wrong with that, sweetheart?" He says mockingly.

"I'm not too interested in talking to you, Bowers," I retort, digging into the pocket of my shorts for a gum packet. "Why not?" He asks in a bit of a growl, his smile still trying to come off as friendly. I swing my bat off my shoulder and let it hit the ground, making it obvious I was very irritated. "Maybe because you enjoy beating the shit out of people for no reason!" I yell, stuffing some gum into my mouth as I spin around and walk off. "Leave me be."

I hear him cursing me out from behind, I just roll my eyes. In one ear and out the other.

I just finished my baseball practice and found him waiting for me after. Bloody creep. No way in hell was I spending any quality time with that jerk. I look up at a sign and feel my heart sink a little.

Neibolt Street

The rusted sign read. I start walking again, I spit out my gum and start whistling while swinging my bat. I place my bat between my thighs for a second as I untie my dirty blonde hair from the high, uncomfortable pony-tail. I slip off the tie and let my long, dead straight hair cascade down my back.

I comb my long fingers through my locks, my eyes glancing up to look at the old, abandoned Neibolt house. I quiver slightly and continue walking past.

It's pretty quiet today, nobody is really around. Something I kept on spotting are the missing posters. Dozens of kids have been mysteriously going missing. It's scary. My mind drifts to my younger sibling Michael. Michael is a big-mouthed fourteen year old with spiky light brown hair and light brown eyes. My names Melanie, sixteen years old. I have straight dirty-blonde hair with brown eyes. Luckily, I'm usually able to avoid bullying because people find me somewhat 'intimidating' I honestly don't know why. I'm short, only 5'2, but I am built from playing lots of sports and doing kickboxing. Maybe that's why.

As I'm walking, I spot a red balloon tied onto one of the posts holding many missing posters. I smile and knock at the balloon as I walk by it, but a surprised yelp leaves my mouth as it suddenly pops, letting out bright red confetti. My shock turns into a giggle as I wipe the confetti away from my clothing. "Cute," I bubbled with a smile.

"You think so?"

I feel the hair on the back of my neck rise with goosebumps as I hear a strange deep, yet childish voice behind me. I hesitantly turn around, a small gasp leaves my mouth. There stood a large 6'4 clown. His outfit looked old-fashioned, he had bright orange hair, yellow eyes, big red lips with two red streaks going over the eyes and in his hand he held an identical balloon. He made me feel tiny.

Despite being freaked out, I try to come off as friendly, "hello" I greet with a small wave and small grin. His already massive smile manages to stretch bigger as he waves back the same way I did. "Hiya, Melanie!" He sang back. I frown, taking a step back, "how do you know my name?" I ask, becoming uncomfortable.

He ignores my question and raises his hand with the balloon toward me. "Balloon? Would you like one?"
"You didn't answer my question and to answer yours, no," I spat, glaring at him.

"Aweeee," he pouts sarcastically "I thought you said the balloons were cute?" I shake my head. "No, really I'm good, I gotta get going," I state, spinning around, thinking whether I should run or not.

Then a squeak leaves my mouth as I feel a hard shove against my back, making me fall face-first into the ground hard. My bat slips out of my hand and rolls across the ground.

My nose felt like it was on fire, luckily it wasn't broken, but it was defiantly bleeding. I quickly place a hand over my pained nose as turn to yell at the dickhead. "What the hell!?" I shout, seeing the clown stand there, a smug look on his face. I crawl back as he steps forward and bends down. I try to scream, but he quickly clasps a hand over my mouth, giving my face a hard squeeze.

I grab onto his arm, trying to rip myself away. He gives me a sadistic grin and leans forward, placing his nose on mine, causing lots of pain as I shriek onto his hand. "That was for being rude, little girl," He suddenly growls, pressing against my nose even harder. He then starts pouting and fake crying "oh wahhh wahhhh! Poor wittle Melanie's hurt wahhh!" He mockingly cries, but breaks the act and starts laughing.

He finally moves his head away and smiles evilly again. "You better get home, Melanie, Michael's waiting for you." He chuckles before aggressively shoving me away by the face. I fall onto my back before quickly getting to my feet and grabbing my bat. "Oh! One more thing, Mel!" I look up at him. "I wanted to apologize for being so rude!" He chirps. "Not for your nose, if that's what you're thinking." "I just forgot to introduce myself do you, my dear!" He exclaims, slapping a hand onto his forehead.

"My name is Pennywise the Dancing Clown! I truly do hope we meet again very soon, girlyyy" He boasts with a vicious grin.

I then spin around and sprint my way home, hearing his cruel laughter far behind me.

I almost break down the door as I burst through, still holding my nose that was running with blood like a tap. I slam the door shut and slide down it, panting heavily in exhaustion. I chuck my bat to the side and quickly get to the bathroom.

"Hey Mel!" My brother greets me, yelping as I rush past him, leaving droplets of the crimson liquid on the wooden floor. "What the!? Why are you bleeding!?" He blurts, patting my back as I turn on the tap and wash my nose. He runs off somewhere and I keep cleaning, watching the once white sink turn red.

"Here, take this!" My brother calls, stuffing a bunch of tissues into my hand. I turn the tap off and hold the tissues over my sore nose. "Thanks," hiss in pain. "What happened to you!?" he asks again, handing me more tissues. "I was just walking home and there was this clown, he tried giving me a balloon and when I said no, he got all pissy and pushed me."

"Wow, what an asshole," Michael says with a small cheeky smile. It wasn't funny. "This is serious!" I yell, sounding nasally. "He knew my name without me even telling him! He also knows you! How the hell does he know you!?" The smile on Michael's face drops instantly and he goes pale. "W-What?" He murmurs, becoming extremely freaked out.

"Fucking creep!" I grunt, walking out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, Michael following after me and jumping on my bed. "What are we gonna do?"
I shrug, unsure of what to do myself. "Should we call the police?" Michael shakes his head. "What's the point? They don't care, they'll think we're lying, plus they would want proof the clown guy did it."

I sigh. "Oh well, dad won't be back until late, again. You can sleep in here with me if you want. I'll lock everything up."

No way in hell was I gonna let some creepy clown in tonight.

Hiiii, thanks for reading the first chapter, hope you enjoyed it!
Poor Melanie, Pennywise is too aggressive, the bastard lol.